Page 20

Eden

My eyes bounced back and forth between Magdalena and Rook as they bantered with each other. When she caught me watching, she smiled.

“Yes, he really did threaten to shoot me. Don’t let him claim otherwise.”

“Were you trying to break into his house?”

“No!”

“Yes.” Rook spoke over her.

“I was not .”

“Our other brother, Knight, put the idea into her head. He was matchmaking.” Rook leaned back on his chair. “Which brings us nicely to the two of you. So, you met in Dallas, sparks flew as well as bullets… then what?”

I waited, hoping Bishop would answer, but he seemed intent on flicking through the menu.

“I guess he just wore me down until I agreed to come here with him.” The answer sounded lame to my ears.

“I see. Just like that?”

“I’m very persuasive.” Bishop’s voice was rich with innuendo, and my cheeks heated.

Magdalena laughed quietly. “If Bishop’s persuasion skills are anything like Rook’s, I understand exactly why you’re here.”

“They’re better,” the man beside me drawled.

I stared at him. He stared right back.

“Are you ready to order?” The stand-off was broken by the server coming up to the table.

“Steak medium rare.” Bishop didn’t look away from me.

“Same.” That was Rook. “Dall? Do you want the chicken?”

“Yes, please.”

I tore my eyes away from the man staring at me and looked down at the menu. “I’ll have the same. The chicken, I mean.”

“Anything to drink?”

“No, we’re good for the moment. Thank you.” That was Rook again.

Silence fell across the table once the server left. I cleared my throat and plucked at the napkin in front of me.

“So, is anyone going to explain why she’s wearing a wedding ring or are we just going to ignore it for the entire evening?”

The bottom fell out of my stomach at Rook’s words.

“You know the saying… if you like it, put a ring on it?” Bishop shrugged. “I liked it.”

Rook looked shocked. His jaw dropped and he stared at his brother for a full minute before visibly pulling himself together. “That’s your ring?”

“Yes. Is it a problem?” Bishop’s voice was cool.

“You got married? After knowing her for how long? A couple of days?” Rook shoved to his feet. “We need to fucking talk right now .”

Bishop’s sigh was irritable. “If you’ll excuse us, I need to go and remind Rook who’s the eldest brother.” He stood and followed his brother outside.

I looked down at the table.

“I don’t know why Rook is so surprised by Bishop’s actions.” Magdalena’s voice was soft. “I accidentally hired him to be my date for a birthday dinner with my parents.”

Her words brought my head up. “How do you accidentally hire someone?”

She laughed. “I’m dyslexic. I misread the table numbers at the diner I’d arranged to meet my soon-to-be pretend boyfriend, sat myself down in front of him, and didn’t really give him a chance to say no.”

“And he went along with it?”

“He claims he was bored.” Her bright smile faded into a more serious expression. “I’ll never be able to thank him enough for that. If he hadn’t gone along with my crazy plan, I’d be dead now.”

I gaped. “What?”

Magdalena shook her head. “It’s a long, depressing story … aside from the parts Rook was involved in. Let’s just say I found out that true family isn’t always the people who are related to you by blood.” She took a sip of wine, pulling a face. “I never used to drink alcohol. I always felt it’d make me look stupider than I already appeared, because of my dyslexia. I still don’t drink it often, but sometimes I’ll have a glass of wine or two with dinner if we’re out.” Her smile was soft. “Something else Rook helped me with.”

“Does Rook do the same thing as Bishop?”

“Oh, no. Rook’s mostly retired these days. But his … skill set is different from Bishop’s.”

Her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn’t going to tell me what he did before retiring, so I didn’t ask.

“They both seem very …”

“Bossy?” She laughed. “They are, but I think that’s mainly because of the lifestyle they’ve lived. They’ve had to be forceful and make split-second decisions. But I will say this. If you married him for something other than love, you couldn’t have picked a better person to help you with whatever trouble you’re hiding from.”

“I’m not—”

Magdalena lifted a hand. “You might be able to fool everyone else, but not me. I can see the same desperate look in your eyes that I had when I found Rook. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything and I’m not going to ask why you really got married. But if you do ever want to talk, I’m here to listen.”